fresh
leaf and was now married. But according to a chronicler: "The family
felicity very soon succumbed to the lure of the lovely Lola." Without,
too, any support for the assertion, a contributor of theatrical gossip
dashed off an imaginative column, in which he declared her, among
other things, to have been "the petted companion of Louis Napoleon";
and also "the idolised dancer of the swells and wits of the capitals
of the Old World, with the near relatives of royalty and the beaux of
Paris for her intimates."

This was going too far. Lola, much incensed, shook her dog-whip and
threatened reprisals.

"What's the matter with you?" demanded the journalist, astonished at
the outburst, "it's good publicity, isn't it?"

"Yes, but not the sort I want," was the response.

Still, whether she wanted it, or not, Lola was soon to have a good
deal more "publicity." This was because she suddenly appeared with a
husband on her arm.

Although the bridegroom, Patrick Purdy Hull, was a fellow-editor, the
_Daily Alta_, of California, considered that the news value of the
event was not worth more than a couple of lines:

"On the 2nd inst. Lola Montez and P. P. Hull, Esq., of this
city (and late of the _San Francisco Whig_) were married at
the Mission Dolores."

Obviously regarding this as a somewhat meagre allowance, a New York
journal furnished fuller details:

Among the recent domestic happenings of the times in
California, the marriage of the celebrated Lola Montez will
attract most attention. This distinguished lady has again
united herself in the bonds of wedlock, the happy young man
being Patrick Purdy Hull, Esq., formerly of Ohio, and for
the past four years employed in the newspaper business in
San Francisco.

Mr. Hull was a fellow-passenger with the fascinating
Countess on her trip to California; and the acquaintance
then formed fast ripened into an attachment which
terminated fatally to his bachelorhood. The nuptials were
consummated [_sic_] at the Holy Church of the Mission
Dolores in the presence of a highly respectable gathering of
prominent citizens.

[Illustration: _The "Spider Dance." Cause of much criticism_]

The "prominent citizens" included "Governor Wainwright, Judge Wills,
Captain McMichael, Mr. and Mrs. Clayton, and Beverley Saunders, Esq."
An attempt was made to keep the ceremony secret; and, with this end in
view